Veiled Innocence (Book One, The Soul Cycle)

by Jones, Krystle

  Her heart faltered. “You killed my father.”

  “What father? You mean that apathetic drunkard? Tell me, Lian, when was the last time he consoled you, told you everything would be all right even when it wasn’t? Did he ever do anything for you?”

  “He was still my father!” she screamed. “What gives you any right –”

  “I have every right in this world and the next! Don’t pretend like you’re not glad to see him dead, to be rid of his infection so your city may begin healing.”

  “You think you did me a favor? What about them? The people whose lives you’ve ruined.”

  “It couldn’t be helped.”

  She was sure of it now; his skin was actually glowing. Each time she spoke, it turned a darker shade of orange, like he was wrapped in an aura of fire. She wondered if anyone else could see it.

  The dream voice floated through her mind. “Be careful.”

  She was past the point of caring. “You did this,” she said, pointing at him with her free hand. “You’re the reason we’re here, in Delkor as homeless refugees instead of safe at home in Accalia.”

  She took a step toward him. “You’re the one who made Orris what he is, made Vishka what she is.”

  “I needed allies,” he said. “I didn’t change Vishka into what she is. That was of her own doing.”

  “This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t exist!” Vishka readied her saber and slowly started closing the distance between them. “It’s time I collected the bounty I’m due.”

  Alastor didn’t move. “Are you truly ready to receive your soul? To be mortal once more in a world that doesn’t even remember you?”

  “I made peace with that a long time ago.”

  He held up a hand, as if to stop her. “I didn’t know this would happen.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I took a risk in creating the Dracor,” he said. “There were complications. They were too new. I couldn’t control them. I never meant for anyone to get hurt!”

  Vishka laughed, harsh and bitter. “And you think that makes up for what you did?”

  “Aha! The sinner condemns the sinner. What of all the lives you’ve taken, Vishka? Not just men, but women and children.”

  Lian felt the breath had been knocked from her all over again. Women and children?

  Vishka’s eyes flashed. “It doesn’t matter. When it’s all said and done, you’ll still be dead.”

  Alastor turned to Lian. “I was wronged by my family, made an enemy in their eyes. I needed an army to take back what was supposed to have been mine.”

  “That doesn’t make what you did right,” Lian said.

  “No, and if I could take it all back, I would.”

  Something shifted in his eyes, and he moved in a blur, instantly in front of her. Lian recoiled when he put his hand on hers. Heat pulsed from him, and sweat broke out on her brow as her breath became heavier. She stared at the floor, the light shining from his skin too bright to bear. “Stay with me, Lian,” Alastor said. “You will want for nothing, and you can live in peace with your family.”

  Any sympathy she felt for him died. “My family is dead. You killed them.”

  His eyes turned sunshine gold. “Oh, but you’re wrong, sweet Lian. Your sister is alive and well.”

  “That’s impossible,” she said. “She died in the fire looking for me.” Her voice broke on the last word as guilt rolled through her, eating away at her soul.

  “He tells the truth, Lianora.”

  For the second time, Lian’s heart skipped. Slowly, she turned her head to see her sister standing in a doorway.

  “Ana?” Lian whispered.

  Ana-Elise looked better than Lian remembered. There was more color in her skin, and her gray eyes were full of life.

  Ana stole a glance at Alastor before looking back to Lian. She opened her arms wide. “Come to me, Sister.”

  Without hesitation, Lian flew to her and wrapped her arms around her. “I thought I had lost you,” she said.

  Ana stroked her hair, shushing her. “There, there. It’s all right. I’m here.”

  Lian clung to her sister, breathing in the scent of lavender and roses on her.

  Ana’s voice was almost inaudible. “You really should listen to what he offers you.”

  Lian tensed and pulled back. She searched her sister’s eyes for the fire-hue, but they looked clear as glass. “What are you talking about?”

  Ana bit her lip. “Lian.” She clutched both of her hands. “Please hear me out.”

  Lian paused but finally nodded her head.

  Ana took a deep breath. “Alastor has not lied. He is not evil as you would believe. He didn’t kill Father; his brother did. And the palace, it was an accident.” She paused. “He only wants to go home, to rule like he was supposed to. It’s so hard on him. I can’t stand to see him like this. I wish you knew what love felt like.” She leaned closer. “We can be there for him, like a family should. Don’t you want a real family, Lian?”

  Lian shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re saying this. He’s lying. He has to be. Think of what he’s done, Ana!”

  “Watch your mouth!” Ana briefly closed her eyes, nostrils flaring. When she opened them, she had regained her composure.

  Lian’s heart sank. The Ana I knew would not have snapped to begin with.

  She looked at Alastor. “What have you done to her?”

  “Don’t waste this opportunity,” Ana said, digging her nails into Lian’s cheeks and forcing her to face her before Alastor could answer. “We can be together, and he will take care of us. All of us.” She looked past Lian to where Rowan and Vishka stood, surrounded by watchful Accalians.

  “Not all of us,” Lian said. “What about Vishka? I’m not a fool, Sister.”

  Ana gave Vishka a cursory glance. “She is a murderer. She deserves her fate.”

  And Alastor doesn’t?

  Lian stared at her sister. “This isn’t you. Think, Ana! He burned our home to the ground. He killed our father.”

  Ana shook her head. “As I said, that was an accident, and he did not. There is good in him. You’re just too blind to see it.”

  At that moment, Lian realized a very important truth; she would fight. No matter how hard or impossible it seemed, she would always fight for what was right.

  She gripped the bow.

  “I think you are the one who is blind, Sister,” Lian said, taking a few steps back. “I’m sorry.”

  Before Ana could react, Lian pulled an arrow and shot it at Alastor.

  “No!”

  Ana ran toward him, but Lian caught her by the wrist. She hugged her sister as the arrow sailed through the air.

  When it should have pierced him, the red tinge around him flared, and the arrow burst into flames. Alastor didn’t even flinch as it fell at his feet in burning splinters. He looked up at Lian, mouth wide open. “Why?”

  Lian stared back at him as a single tear rolled down her cheek. “Because I must.”

  Without warning, his fire aura grew brighter, and the shadows in the room lengthened. “No,” he said, staggering backward. “No, not now! Run! Tell everyone to run!”

  Women began screaming, and people began rampaging down the stairs as plumes of bitter smoke filled the air, twisting and writhing into faceless shapes with glowing orange eyes.

  Lian was unprepared; the sentient being inside her gut suddenly thrashed to life, sending her to the ground. The bow clattered to the ground, and Ana jerked free of her grasp, scampering away and gaping at her in horror. It felt like a knife was stuck in her side, twisting and slashing her to pieces. The thing clawed up her throat. Rearing back her head, she spewed the spirit out, watching as it streamed through the air and went straight into Alastor’s eyes.

  He moaned and fell to his knees, clutching at his head. “No, I thought I was rid of you! Go… away… I don’t… need you…”

  Ana ran forward to Alastor, but he pushed her away so hard that she stumble
d, hitting her head on the banister. Her eyes went blank and her lids fluttered shut as her body slumped to the floor.

  “Ana!” Still weak from releasing the spirit, she grabbed the bow and rose to her feet. With shaking knees, she started to sprint toward her sister when someone tugged on her arm. She whirled around to find a wide-eyed Ursa staring back at her. Lian quickly pushed all worries over Ana aside.

  “Come on!” Ursa said. “We have to get out of here.”

  “No!” Lian shoved her. “You go on. I have to stay and fight.”

  “You’ll be killed!”

  “Just go!”

  Lian pushed Ursa away as the smoke took form. She struggled to breathe as large black wings spread from the smoke, and one by one Dracor stepped from the shadows.

  No one was left save Lian, Rowan, and Vishka. The room was pitch black, except for the demonic glow from Alastor’s aura and the gentle white light of her teardrop, dulled by her blouse.

  Growls and snarls filled the air as the Dracor circled them. They were completely surrounded.

  Use the crystal, the dream voice said.

  Lian pulled it free of her blouse. Without thinking, she closed her eyes. “Please, if anyone can hear this, grant me the power to defeat these demons without killing them.” She opened her eyes and lifted the bow to the crystal. As soon as it made contact, the bow took on the same white glow as the crystal.

  Lian stared at it. “By the gods.”

  She could hear Rowan’s breathing and feel Vishka’s heartbeat at her back. Lian notched an arrow and aimed for the nearest Dracor. “For Gabriel. For my father. And for Accalia.”

  She released the arrow, and it raced through the air, leaving a trail of white sparks. It buried itself in the side of a Dracor, and it reared. Its wail grew smaller and more human as it changed back into a man, wearing its strange armor of obsidian and feathers. The man stumbled about and spotted the arrow in his side. He pulled it out and inspected it before collapsing into a deep sleep.

  Rowan swore, and Vishka said something in a tongue Lian didn’t recognize.

  The remaining Dracor sniffed the fallen man, and with low growls in their throats, they turned to Lian and charged.

  Vishka ran forward to block their advances as Lian fell back, notching arrow after arrow. The air was soon filled with orange and white streaks as the Dracor took to the air no sooner than to be shot down.

  Her aim was incredible; she had always been good, but never this good.

  Her vision was edged in a hazy light, and with a start, she realized her skin had taken on a soft white glow. The crystal… Is it doing this?

  Rowan covered her, the clang of fang and claw against metal ringing through the air as he knocked the Dracor back with Lady Mardon’s sword. The stench of brimstone was overwhelming, and Lian gagged but kept shooting. The orange blaze of the Dracor’s demonic eyes began disappearing into the darkness as they turned back into men, each falling unconscious but alive around her.

  Lian had just released another arrow when Vishka cried out in pain. Rowan paused a split second mid-swing, long enough for the Dracor he was fighting to seize the sword with its jaws and rip it from his hands. Not wasting any time, Rowan dove for the sword, but the Dracor was faster. It knocked Rowan to the side, where he tumbled into a table, its contents spilling onto him as he struggled to get up.

  “Rowan!” Lian screamed.

  He was trapped, weaponless, as the Dracor bounded toward him.

  Quicker than she thought she was capable of, Lian pulled an arrow, notched it, and aimed.

  The Dracor snapped repeatedly at Rowan, who rolled to either side of its jaws. Growling in agitation, the beast pounced and pinned him on the ground. It lunged for Rowan’s throat, and he grabbed the leg of the broken table, lodging it in the Dracor’s mouth. He held onto either end of the leg as the Dracor wrestled with him, biting at the table leg.

  The moment the Dracor stilled, Lian released the arrow.

  The Dracor turned, its eyes lit up by white light, as the arrow embedded itself in its chest. It shuddered and morphed back into a man before it hit the ground.

  Rowan eyed the Dracor man warily and nudged him with his foot before looking up at Lian and nodding.

  Lian sank to her knees, her heart hammering in her chest. The room was completely dark, save for the dull red glow coming from Alastor, who stood near the far wall. Her skin and the bow had returned to normal; all but the teardrop, which continued to glow beneath her blouse.

  It was entirely too quiet.

  Lian’s eyes searched the darkness, but there was no sign of Vishka. Icy sweat had broken out over her brow; she tried to stand, but her knees gave out almost immediately. With a grunt, she planted the end of the bow into the floor and hauled herself up. She wobbled to the area she thought she remembered Vishka’s voice coming from, and after a few steps, her feet started making slapping noises, like she was walking through a puddle.

  She kneeled down so the light from the pendant would illuminate the floor.

  And almost threw up.

  Dark crimson liquid spread across the floor like water, coating everything. She stood up too fast, lost her footing, and yelped as she careened into the blood-soaked floor. It felt warm and sticky, and she cried out as she scrambled away from the puddle.

  They weren’t supposed to die. Vishka, what have you done?

  As she edged farther away, her feet slipping in the blood, Alastor’s head jerked, and his eyes flared a brilliant red. “What have you been hiding, Lian?” he rasped. He didn’t look anything like the Alastor she knew; this version was filled with an unrelenting darkness that terrified her.

  It’s the imposter, speaking through Alastor. Just like it did through Orris and me.

  She hastily tucked the pendant back into her blouse and covered it with her hand, trying to mute its light.

  Alastor drifted toward her, floating on the air as if he weighed nothing. That’s when she saw it, the gleam of a red gem drifting in and out of the darkness around Alastor.

  The blade came into view first. It was shiny, no doubt still slick with fresh blood.

  Alastor followed Lian’s gaze and whirled to find Vishka standing directly behind him.

  “Die,” she said.

  Everything slowed down. Vishka raised the saber high over her head and swung down hard, as if to split his body in two.

  This is it, thought Lian, the moment she’s been waiting for her whole life. After over a thousand years, Vishka would finally be free.

  Then the unthinkable happened; the saber snapped in half the instant it touched his red aura.

  “What!” Vishka shrieked.

  She nearly collided with Alastor when he grabbed her by the neck and held her at arm’s length. Her mouth gaped open as her saber clattered to the floor in two pieces.

  Alastor winked at Vishka. “Better luck next time, love.” Then he kicked her so hard in the stomach that she went flying across the foyer. She slammed violently into the far wall, screaming in pain before falling to the floor barely conscious.

  “Vishka!” Rowan limped to her. He fell to his knees and gently laid her head on his lap.

  Lian opened her mouth to call to him when a shadow flickered in the corner of her eye. A Dracor stood less than twenty feet from her.

  I missed one.

  Her heart hammered in her chest as she groped for an arrow. The Dracor pulled its jowls back in a wicked grin as it slowly slinked across the floor toward her.

  Lian stumbled backward, dropping the bow. Scrambling to retrieve it, she lost her balance and fell. Pain shot through her back as she slammed into a wall. To either side of her loomed a pillar; there was nowhere to run.

  She scurried to grab her bow, pull an arrow, and notch it, but the Dracor was already upon her.

  I’m going to die.

  She sucked in a breath and held up her bow, ducking her head in hopes it would shield her somehow. She waited for death to come, horrible and bloody.

>   But the blow never came.

  The moment the Dracor would have struck her, a cloud of thick purple-black smoke enveloped them. It didn’t choke her; it smelled of wildflowers and spring.

  When the smoke cleared, a tall man with long dark hair stood in front of her. Her eyes widened. “You.”

  The stranger from the ball turned and smiled. “I was hoping I would get to see you again, though not like this.”

  The Dracor paused for only a moment, surveying the stranger, before deciding to attack him.

  The stranger’s face was murderous. He grabbed the Dracor by the throat and lifted it off the floor. The Dracor’s legs twitched and kicked about as it gasped for air.

  “You will not touch her.”

  He hurled the beast down the stairs. The creature crashed into the wall and slid to the floor in a pile of black feathers and fur.

  She sat panting, her arms still raised, as the stranger’s fury eased. He slowly turned to face her. “The crystal,” he said. “Is it safe?”

  “What? Oh!”

  She dropped the bow and pulled the crystalline chain over her head. “Take it! If giving it to you will keep it safe, then I beg you to take it!”

  “I cannot. It belongs to you and you alone.”

  Before she could ask, Alastor’s aura darkened to black. “The crystal,” he said in the shadow voice. “At last! I must have it! You must not be allowed to keep it!”

  The aura shifted, and he floated toward them, as quick as the wind. In a split second, the stranger appeared at her side, surrounded by his strange smoke. He scooped her up. “Close your eyes, and hold on tight.”

  Lian did as she was told, squeezing next to his chest just as Alastor’s fingertips touched the chain. Then the world and time as she knew it caved in as she was lost to a whirl of shadows, smoke, and fire.

  And as they fell through the earth, with the stranger cradling her tightly to his chest, she heard a woman scream her name in her head.